Motor and gauge plate control for slicing machines



A. W. LUNDELL July 3, 1951 MOTOR AND GAUGE PLATE CONTROL FOR SLICING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 21, 1949 Y I, MUQ,

ATTORNEY L L E m R ow mw D L mo N R 9 A. W. LUNDELL July 3, 1951 MOTOR AND GAUGE PLATE CONTROL. FOR SLICING MACHINES Filed Jan. 21, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lllllll I| INVENTOR QRNOLD W. LUN DELL,

Y E N R O T T A Patented July 3, 1951 MOTOR AND GAUGE PLATE. CONTROL FOR SLIGING MACHINES Arnold W. Lundell, East Portchester, Conn., as-

signor to Globe Slicing Machine 00., Inc., Stamford, Conn., a corporation of New York Application January 21, 1949, Serial No. 72,037

Claims.

This invention relates to motor and gauge plate controls for slicing machines.

With slicing machines having power driven 1'0- tatable knives, the rotation of the knife is required for two purposes, one only during the slicing operation, and the other during the cleaning operation.

With the machines heretofore in use it has been necessary prior to a slicing operation to actuate a switch not only at the start, but also at the end of an operation, and also to actuate a gauge control to determine the thickness of slices to be produced. To this end it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide one and the same control, the initial movement of which will establish the current in turn to start the motor, and

the ensuing movement of which will complete the slice thickness selection. As a result thereof, not only will the manual labor in performing a slicing operation be reduced and simplified, but in addition the hazard of cutting an improper thickness of slice reduced since the starting operation will inherently entail the setting of the gauge plate to the thickness required for the particular slicing operation.

With the machines heretofore in use it has also been customary to clean the knife by rotatably considerable hazard. As an instance, it had been found by experience that when the knife operated at a point just below the gauge plate, but out of slicing position, an attendant could with facility clean the same when the knife was rotating but be absolutely protected from injury, and that no matter how careful the attendant was, if the knife operated above the level of the gauge plate during the cleaning operation, he was in constant danger of being out. To this end the present invention provides a safety guide which will determine the position of the knife for cleaning purposes where it will operate below the level of the gauge plate, but in position to be cleaned and definitely out of the way of any harm to the operator.

More specifically, the present invention aims to provide a motor and gauge plate control including a microswitch for controlling the cutting of the knife driven motor which is normally in circuit making position and which is operatively connected to the gauge plate control so that the microswitch will be actuated into circuit breaking position when the gauge plate is raised above the level of the knife and out of slicing operation, and so that the microswitch will be cleared into circuit making position when the gauge plate is lowered either into slicing position or into position for cleaning the knife.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved motor and gauge plate control in combination with a safety device which according to one setting Will permit the current for the knife operating motor to be established and the gauge plate to be actuated into slicing operation, and according to another setting positively locked to permit the current for the knife operating motor to be established and the gauge plate to be actuated into knife cleaning position, but out of slicing position.

These and other features, capabilities and advantages of the invention will appear from the subjoined detail description of one specific embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective of a slicin machine equipped with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation partly broken away showing part of the improvement in detail.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental front elevation partly in section of the improvement shown in; Fig. 2.

' constituting the present invention in the present instance is shown as operatively connected to a slicing machine which has a main housing I in which there is slidably mounted the hanger, not shown, for the object holder or chute 2. In front of the housing I, there is positioned at one end the motor 3 for the knife 4 rotatably mounted in the bracket 5 extending from the front of the housing I.

To one side of the motor 3 and below the gauge plate 6 in front of the housing 5, there is provided in the present instance a pan or Slice receiving tray '1. In the machine illustrated, the knife 4 rotates in a plane forming an acute angle with the vertical, the wings 3 and t of the chute 2 extend up substantially perpendicular to the plane of the knife 4, and the gauge plate 6 is disposed in a plane either in alinement with, or parallel to, the plane of the knife 4.

On the right hand end of the housing I there is formed a control knob l0 fixed on the shaft ll, journalled in the housing I. Fig. 4, has formed thereon the worm [2 in mesh with the segment IS on the shaft l4 journalled in1thehousing l, which shaft It in turn has se- The shaft 1 I,

cured thereto two arms, one arm I5 having a. projection l6 thereon slidably mounted in the slot I! of the bracket l8, and the other arm l9 having a finger 2a in position to engage the but ton 2| of the microswitch 22 which is connected by the conductors 23 and 24 to the source of ,current and the motor 3.

The bracket 18 is slidably mounted on the post 25 and has a bifurcation 26 at its rear engaging the bar 21 secured to the housing I. The bracket la in the present instance has'securedthereto the gauge plate 6.

From the foregoing it will appear that as the knob it is rotated, it will simultaneously actuate the gauge plate 6 slidably along the post 25 and bar 21, that is, so that the upper face of the gauge plate 6 will either be disposed above the cutting edge of the knife 4, see Fig. 3, out of slicing position, in a position approximately in alinement with the cutting edge of the knife 4 in cleaning position, or in a number of positions below the cutting edge of the knife, depending upon the thickness of the slice to be cut in sliccrumed at 37 in the bracket 38 secured to the inner face of the housing To either side of the bracket 38 in the wall 39'of the housing i, there are provided the metal thimbles ii? and H to receive the pins 42 and 43, respectively, having the heads 44 and 45, respectively, to cooperate with the edges of the lever as to either side of ing position, and at the same time actuate the finger 26 either into engagement with the button 2| to interrupt the current for the motor 3 or to clear the button 2| and thereby enable the current for the motor to be established.

" i The knob H] in the present instance has a hub 28 fixed'to the dial 29, which dial in the present instance has forty-two graduations, twenty-one alternate graduations of which are marked 0,

1, 2, 3, and so on, to 20, with the halfway graduations not earmarked. On the side of the housing there is secured the pointer 30 which in Fig. 5 registers with the half -way mark between the designation and 0 on the dial 29, which corresponds with the position determined by the cooperation of the stop arm '3l with the projection 32 formed on the arcuate plate 33 having the arcuate slot 34 through which extends the screw 35 secured to the inner face of the dial 29. The arcuate slot 34 is provided to cooperate with the screw to facilitate ad-"' justment of the projection 32 to the position where it is desired to cooperate with the stop The position shown in Fig. 5 has been selected to correspond with a position of the gauge plate 6 approximately /64 of an inch above the cutting edge of the knife A and is designated for the purpose of the present invention as the cleaning position of the gauge plate 6. In other words, it has been found that when the knife 4 'is operating or rotating, it can with facility be' 'the graduation designated 0, that is, half way between the graduation 20 and the half-way I graduation between the graduation 20 and the graduation 0, the arm 59 will be so positioned on the shaft l4 that its finger 20 will just clear .the button 2| and enable the current for the motor 3 to be established. In turn excellent results have been achieved when the final at rest position of the knob lil will correspond with a position of the finger 20 where it will depress the button 2| to a position where the pointer 30 will register with the half-way graduation between the graduations 19 and 20 as shown in Fig. 2.

.. The arm 3| is formed on the. lever 36,- fulthe bracket 38. When the pin 43 is pressed inwardly, its stop arm 3| will be disposed in the pathpfmovement of the projection 32 on the "plateg'33 to determine the cleaning position of upon the thickness of slice to be out.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that with the present improved motor and gauge plate control, the current to the motor 3 will not be shut off until the gauge plate has been raised to a point above the level of the cutting edge of the knife 4. It will also appear that instead of requiring two distinct actuations by the attendant when starting a slicing operation or a cleaning operation, namely one, the turning on of the switch, and, two, the manipulation of the slice thickness control knob, the present control enables performing both of these operations by one actuation of the attendant namely, the actuation of the knob i8 alone. This single actuation, of course, assumes that the safety device identified by the lever 36 is not used.

In turn, the safety device identified by the lever 36 of course need not be used for each successive slicing operation, since the cleaning operation need not follow each slicing operation.

on the other hand, when it is desired to clean the cutting edge of the knife d, in the interest of the safety of the attendant, the attendant should initially press the pin 43 shown in Fig. 4 toposition the stop arm 3| in the path of movement of the projection 32, and then turn the knob l0 until the projection 32 engages the stop arm 3|, when the finger 28 will clear the button 2| to enable the current for the motor 3 to be established, thereby to actuate the knife, and at the same time automatically position the cutting edge of the knifejust below the upper face of the gauge plate 6 where the cutting edge may be effectively cleaned and yet the attendant be secured from danger.

From the foregoing, it will also appear that the present device will aid the attendant materially in effecting the proper slice thickness. With the machines heretofore in use, the operation of :which required two actuations, namely, a turning on of the motor and an adjustment of the gauge plate, the attendant frequentlylonly turned on the switch for the motor and trusted to luck that the position of the gaugeplate theretofore selected would be satisfactory for the new Slicing operation. This haphazard selection, of course, not infrequently resulted in error on thepart of the attendant. With the present device, since the knob I0 is required to be actuated in any event to turn on the motor, it is of course ob- 'vious that the attendants attention will always tion without departing from the general spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A motor and gauge plate control for a slicing machine having a power driven rotatable knife, an electric motor for operative connection to said knife, an electric switch for the motor, a gauge plate, and movably mounted supporting means for said gauge plate movable to and from the cutting edge of the knife to determine the slice thickness to be cut, characterized by a rotatable shaft, a control knob fixed on said shaft, a second shaft operatively connected to said first shaft, a first lever fixed to said second shaft for actuation of said switch to open the same and interrupt the current to said motor in off position, and a second lever on said second shaft operatively connecting said supporting means to position said gauge plate above the level of the cutting edge of said knife in the off position of said first lever, the actuation of said knob and in turn of said second shaft from the oif position initially to withdraw said first lever from said switch to enable said switch to close and start said motor, and the continued actuation of said knob actuating said second lever to space said gauge plate from the cutting edge of said knife into slicing position.

2. A motor and gauge plate control for a slicing machine having a power driven rotatable knife, an electric motor for operative connection to said knife, an electric switch for the motor, a gauge plate, and movably mounted supporting means for said gauge plate movable to and from the cutting edge of the knife to determine the slice thickness to be cut, characterized by a rotatable shaft, a control knob fixed on said shaft, a second shaft operatively connected to said first shaft, a first lever fixed to said second shaft for actuation of said switch to open the same and interrupt the current to said motor in off position, and a second lever on said second shaft operatively connecting said supporting means to position said gauge plate above the level of the cutting edge of said knife in the off position of said first lever, the actuation of said knob and in turn of second said shaft from the off position initially to withdraw said first lever from said switch to enable said switch to close and start said motor, and the continued actuation of said knob actuating said second lever first to space said gauge plate from the cutting edge of said knife into cleaning position, and upon further actuation to space said gauge plate from the cutting edge of said knife into slicing position.

3. A motor and gauge plate control for a slicing machine having a power driven rotatable knife, an electric motor for operative connection to said knife, an electric switch for the motor, a gauge plate, and movably mounted supporting means for said gauge plate movable to and from the cutting edge of the knife to determine the slice thickness to be cut, characterized by a rotatable shaft, a control knob fixed on said shaft, a second shaft operatively connected to said first shaft, a first lever fixed to said second shaft for actuation of said switch to open the same and interrupt the current to said motor in oif position, and a second lever on said second shaft operatively connecting said supporting means to position said gauge plate above the level of the cutting edge of said knife in the off position of said first lever, the actuation of said knob and in turn of second said shaft from the off position initially to withdraw said first lever from said switch to enable said switch to close and start said motor, and the continued actuation of said knob actuating said second lever first to space said gauge plate above the level of the cutting edge of said knife into cleaning position, and upon further actuation to space said gauge plate below the level of the cutting edge of said knife into slicing position.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3 having a device including a lever, a projection fixed inside of said knob, said lever having a stop arm and a second arm extending from the opposite sides of the fulcrum of said lever, and frictionally held pins, one for each of said arms alternately to actuate one or the other arm to move said stop arm either into or out of the path of movement of said projection to determine the position of said gauge plate for cleaning purposes.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 3 having a device including a lever, a projection fixed inside of said knob, said lever having a stop arm and a second arm extending from the opposite sides of the fulcrum of said lever, frictionally held pins, one for each of said arms alternately to actuate one or the other arm to move said stop arm either into or out of the path of movement of said projection to determine the position of said gauge plate for cleaning purposes, and the gauge plate being free to be actuated below the level of the cutting edge of said knife when said stop arm is out of the path of movement of said projection.

ARNOLD W. LUNDELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,860,382 Campbell May 31, 1932 2,182,708 Shlevin Dec. 5, 1939 2,358,223 Folk Sept. 12, 1944 2,459,200 Teague Jan. 18, 1949 

